Such is Life
by ThatisneverThat
Summary: Sometimes things don't go quite to plan, and a seemingly straight forward break in, causes Grace Van Pelt's life to change forever.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my second Mentalist story, the idea occurred to me the other day. Hope you enjoy, reviews would be wholly appreciated for inspiration :)**

**Don't own the mentalist, never have and sadly, never will :(**

Grace hated that feeling before they did a break in, standing outside having no idea what they might find inside just waiting for someone to tell them to go. It had become harder since she'd shot Craig, she wasn't so much afraid to shoot if she needed to, just more aware of how she might feel after and that scared her more than anything, she'd had so many nightmares since that day – she didn't want anymore. This case was difficult enough to deal with; standing outside the door behind Lisbon they were briefed that 2 children lived in this house with their dad – the suspect and this concerned Grace, she felt she needed to protect them from being hurt by the team about to go in all guns blazing on their dad. It was hard being the caring one on the team.

The next few seconds seemed to pass ever so slowly as silence fell over them all and everyone got in to place with Cho at the front, ready to work the door in his usual way and Rigsby stood behind him on the opposite side of the door to Grace. She looked over to him, maybe for some sort of encouragement or reassurance which he gave her with a slight nod just before Lisbon gave the call and they all burst in. Grace followed her and split off to head upstairs with Rigsby and began to check out the rooms. She could hear Lisbon and Cho clearing all the rooms downstairs, making it more likely they were going to find Paul Jacobs up here, and it wasn't long before her suspicions were confirmed as Rigsby backed out of one of the bedrooms followed by Jacobs and a gun, his gun must have been knocked out of his hand. Lisbon and Cho came upstairs just as Jacobs appeared and started shouting at him "Jacobs, put the gun down, don't make this work for us…" But whatever she was saying faded in Grace's ears as she spotted a child peaking out of the door beside her, staring at her holding her gun up. Immediately she lowered the gun and pushed the door open, going in and shutting it before the children could see their dad, knowing she was leaving Rigsby out there, but he was safe with the others help.

Both the children were in here, a boy and a girl. Neither was older than about 5, how could their dad do this to them? Grace was angry, scared and really had no idea what to do, but she was faced with 2 young children scared stiff about what was happening so she knew she had to do something.  
>"It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you… I'm a policewoman; my friends are out there trying to talk to your daddy yeh? But he's having a little strop so they're just telling him off; it'll be fine though okay? Don't you worry about it. I'll look after you for now, is that okay?" She'd hardly finished before both children ran over to her, hugging her tight, and Grace suddenly knew she needed to protect them so she sat down, one child either side and waited, keeping her gun at close range.<p>

Outside things hadn't got much better, Lisbon was still trying to talk down Jacobs and Rigsby was still in a bit of a precarious decision, he had noticed Grace's disappearance which quite frankly he could've done without at that moment but he was sure she had a reason for going in that room.  
>"Come on Paul, give it up now. You're not getting away and shooting a cop would make your sentence an awful lot longer and what then? You must care about your kids…" Lisbon immediately regretted that last sentence as Jacobs fired a warning shot at the ceiling.<p>

Grace jumped, she couldn't hear much of what was going on outside due to some fairly thick walls but she could hear that, the shot. She tried hard to suppress any tears of worry as the kids burrowed their heads closer in to her, leaving her to whisper to try and calm them down. "It's okay, don't worry, just a loud bang, everything's alright…" but she knew it wasn't. Rigsby might be wearing a vest but it doesn't cover all of him, and even if Jacobs had shot the vest, at that close range it would definitely have winded him. Grace really wanted to be out there, to know if he was alright or at least what was going on, but she could feel the children shaking beside her and so realised she needed to put her worries aside for now, and focus on them.  
>"Why don't you tell me your names?" she smiled at them to reassure them, however fake the smile it seemed to work.<br>"I'm Joseph… and that's Hannah…" the older of the 2 spoke up, looking up at Van Pelt's face.  
>"And how old are you both?" she kept the smile on as it seemed to be helping.<br>"I'm 5, Hannah's 3…" Joseph sounded unsure about telling her this, but she nodded to thank him and considered her response a moment  
>"Well I'm Grace, and I'm a lot older than you" she replied, getting a little smile from Jacob but Hannah didn't really understand the joke.<br>"Grace…" Hannah repeated what Van Pelt had told her and received a nod in reply. The name seemed to help both children, she supposed because she wasn't a stranger anymore. Grace just wished she could calm down as easily as them, only one person could manage that and he was out there, possibly hurt.

All 3 agents outside had panicked at the warning shot. Paul Jacobs wasn't looking like he was going to back down anytime soon and Lisbon knew if things got any worse they would have to shoot him down, which they really didn't need today. She tried to ignore the look on Rigsby's face – he was obviously trying to look calm but she could see the panic causing him to shake slightly, this just made her feel worse for prolonging the whole thing. Jacobs wasn't moving now, nothing was being said but right now, at the angle they were Lisbon couldn't risk shooting him because the danger to Wayne Rigsby was too great and there was no way she could move from her current position. Cho too was out of shooting range so the current position was pretty much stuck for a while.

Back in the bedroom, Van Pelt had finally managed to calm the children down enough to avoid conversation of the events in the corridor and instead was listening to them talk all about what they'd been doing today. She nodded every now and then, and gave the odd 'wow' when Hannah showed her the picture she'd drawn that afternoon or when Jo told her about his certificate from kindergarten; but secretly she couldn't stop thinking about how everything was outside. She'd guessed from the lack of movement that Rigsby must be alright, however this also led her to presume there was still a gun being pointed. Her suspicions were soon confirmed as she hurt Lisbon shout, very loud, for Pierson to move the gun, and Grace knew she couldn't leave them out there any longer. She could feel anger shooting through her body that this Jacobs guy wouldn't leave Wayne Rigsby alone, and so Grace stood up.  
>"You two stay here okay? I need to go help my friends," she reassured the children and headed to the door, taking her gun out slowly and opening the door, taking her time so as not to be noticed.<p>

Jacobs was holding the gun even more convincingly now and a lot closer to Rigsby. Lisbon and Cho were still in their same positions, but too nervous to try and get him from there. All 3 agents knew that they were going to have to take Paul Jacobs down as he was refusing to lower his gun from its position by Wayne's neck. Grace stood back, keeping quiet and keeping her gun by her side as she stood in the shadows watching the almost statue like situation.  
>"Get out, leave me alone or I will shoot." Paul Jacobs suddenly spoke up after keeping silent for so long. This spurred Lisbon in to a slight movement.<br>"Paul, you know we can't do that. So why don't you make this easier for all of us and come easy…" unfortunately, as expected, this didn't work too well.  
>"No, I'm not going with you; I've not done anything you can't take me!" Paul replied, starting to look very angry which scared Grace – angry people holding guns are never good news (she didn't even think to link this back to herself at this moment).<br>"I'd say this is proving you more guilty than innocent Jacobs" Lisbon replied, but Paul's reaction was not good. He cocked the gun and moved it slightly, he was ready to shoot.

Grace reacted immediately, anger surging through her body. She picked her gun up and aimed it straight at Jacobs. She knew this was going to be close, she didn't have a bit aiming spot, but she had no choice, everyone knew she had no choice. Lisbon and Cho turned round when they heard her and automatically moved out the way, they knew Grace was a good shot (they didn't believe she had the most guts until this moment) and she pressed the trigger.

The bullets seemed to move really slowly through the air, and everyone seemed to be watching them head towards Jacobs. Two of them, close together, but soon people realised they weren't quite heading in the same direction. Bullet number one hit Jacobs, hard, right in the centre of the chest and he was down leaving everyone relieved as his gun hit the floor. It took a second or two however, to see bullet number two hit Wayne Rigsby's lower neck and cause him to fall down. Everyone watched, frozen, as the tall agent fell down, holding his neck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those who have read already! Here's chapter 2, please enjoy and review :) **

**Still don't own anything :(**

Lisbon and Cho reacted quicker than Grace, Cho checking on Paul and Lisbon kneeling beside Rigsby.  
>"Rigsby? Are you alright? Stay with me now. Van Pelt, call 911!" Grace however, was still staring at the gun in her hand. After a few moments she dropped it on the floor, almost scared of it and what she'd done – her bullet had hit Wayne Rigsby. She couldn't believe it, she was so certain she'd stayed accurate, and she only sent the second bullet to make sure Jacobs went down. "Van Pelt! Snap out of it, it's not your fault, you had no choice. Now call 911!" She nodded and pulled her cell out, calling for an ambulance and making it plain how urgent it was whilst trying to find the courage to go over to Rigsby. When she hung up, knowing the ambulance wasn't far away, she made her way to Rigsby with tears beginning to leak out.<br>"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have gone for it, it was too close. You'll be okay, you have to be okay…" Wayne almost smiled at her as she panicked at him, he was in pain but he didn't want her to be.  
>"You had to…" he replied through the pain, "You did the right thing… don't blame yourself… promise me…" he looked at her, reaching for her hand with the one that wasn't holding his neck. She took it gently, but didn't reply to what he'd said. She might have done the right thing, but that didn't change the fact that he was lying here with blood, so much blood lying around him. "Grace, please, promise me!" he said, pushing it out through the pain.<br>"I promise…" she replied, and kept his hand close, unsure whether she could actually keep that promise.

When the ambulance arrived Grace found herself pushed out the way so they could help him. Jacobs body had already been removed which just left Rigsby lying there in his own blood as they got him ready to take out.  
>"Someone needs to stay and wait for the social worker…" Lisbon looked round at them all, including Jane who had made his way inside.<br>"I'll do it…" Grace looked up from Rigsby for the first time in a while and looked back to the bedroom she'd left, "I was in there with them; they trust me… even if I did just kill their dad…" Lisbon agreed, reassuring her she did the right thing, it was clear to everyone that Jacobs could never have been the best role model for those children anyway.

Van Pelt watched as Rigsby was carried out to the ambulance, leaving just her standing in the hallway as the others headed to follow him in. She didn't return to the bedroom straight away but took a moment to gather herself, she'd promised Wayne she wouldn't blame herself, Lisbon had told her a dozen times she'd done the right thing so now she needed to focus on those poor kids and try to explain what was going to happen. After a few minutes she made her way back, making she it wasn't obvious she'd been crying and having already worked out vaguely what to say. Both children ran over to her, obviously scared by the gun shots and the noise that had been happening since she left.  
>"It's okay, it's over now… listen, I need to talk to you both about Daddy okay?" They both nodded and she sat them on one of the beds, sitting between them as she had done previously. "Daddy's had to go away, and he can't come back. But he's safe now, I promise. He's asked me and a nice person from social services to help you find somewhere else to live with some lovely people and he said to tell you he loves you both." Okay, it might not have been the whole truth but it was the best thing she could think of. Hannah looked up at her, tears in her eyes, "Daddy no come back…?" she asked, a look in her eyes that made Grace feel so guilty even though she knew these two would be a lot better off without him in the long term – it's still their dad. "No sweetheart, but you'll be alright, you both will." Both children seemed to accept it after that, Van Pelt had expected more of a fight, but then she didn't know how their dad had been treating them, that could excuse their response.<p>

The social worked seemed to be taking an eternity, Hannah and Jo had fallen asleep against Grace so she just sat there, staring out of the window opposite and occasionally glancing at her cell in case Lisbon had news on Rigsby. Only in that time did she really get a chance to take in more detail about the children as they slept quietly. Jo was quite tall for 5, but he didn't look any older. He had mouse brown hair that was spiked up, it suited him really; he looked a lot like his Dad, but then Grace hadn't seen their mum to compare. Hannah was quite different to Jo; she seemed quite short for her age, though it's hard to tell with 3 year olds. Only now did Grace actually realise that Hannah looked shockingly like herself at that age, with quite long ginger hair for her age and the little freckles, faint but there and even her eyes were a similar brown colour. Van Pelt smiled gently at the sleeping girl who reminded her of those innocent days, and waited patiently for the social worker to arrive.

After another hour or so a woman came in, obviously having been instructed to go straight in to the house. Grace looked up at her and gestured to the children, who she then proceeded to move gently and headed outside the room to talk to the social worker.  
>"Sorry, I don't really want to wake them at the moment, they're so peaceful… I'm Agent Van Pelt, Grace; I've been with the children most of the time since we came in today" Grace smiled, a lot calmer than she was earlier so the smile was more real.<br>"Mandy Graham, I've been assigned as the children's social worker. We've been briefed on what happened, have you told them what happened?" she looked to Grace after shaking hands. Van Pelt nodded,  
>"Well, not as such. I explained their dad had to go and he wouldn't be coming back, and that he loved them. They were really accepting of it actually, settled quite quickly and then fell asleep," Grace explained, looking back through the gap she'd left in the door to check they were okay, "poor little mites, they don't deserve this…" Mandy started writing these things down, including how Grace seemed to have done a good job with them; it would save her the hard part.<br>"Well thank you, usually the police leave us to do that bit. In fact usually we arrive to crying screaming children, so you've been really helpful." Mandy proceeded to ask a few more questions about what happened, if the kids had said anything to Grace at all or if they'd seen much of what happened.  
>"What will happen to them now?" Grace asked, wanting to know before they woke up.<br>"We'll send them to a children's home whilst we look for foster parents or people who want to adopt. We don't have a suitable foster home at the moment willing to take both children. They are young which is on their side, however we try not to split siblings up and there's less people out there willing to take on two kids." Mandy explained, still jotting things down. Grace just nodded, watching them sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading the first two chapters, here's the third for your enjoyment. Thank you for my reviews so far, they're really lovely! Hope this will inspire some more :)**

**Sadly, I still own nothing. In fact you'd be pretty shocked if I said otherwise wouldn't you?**

Van Pelt kept watching the children as Mandy continued with her questions which seemed to be never ending considering Grace had only known them a couple of hours. Hannah began to stir after a while and looked panicked and began to whimper when she realised she wasn't lying on Grace's lap anymore. As soon as the agent realised this, she ran in, despite the fact Mandy was in the middle of asking her something.  
>"It's alright sweetheart, I'm here, and I was just talking to the nice lady outside… you alright?" she hugged her gently,<br>"I okay… why the lady here?" Hannah asked, spotting her outside the door.  
>"She's going to find you a new place to live remember? You're going to go live with lots of other children for a little bit and then they'll find you some new people to look after you" Grace hadn't noticed Jo waking up the other side of her, and jumping slightly when he responded to her.<br>"Will you be there?" She looked over at him, seeing a look in his eyes which told her he really meant that. Looking back to Hannah she saw the same, scared look, and started to feel really bad.  
>"No sweetheart, but the people there are really nice, and I might be able to visit sometime? You'll both be fine." Neither child seemed reassured by this and both immediately clung on to her. "Hey, you don't need me, you'll make lots of new friends…" even as she said it she knew it wouldn't help, but what could she do?<p>

Mandy came in at this point after having observed them from a distance. Hannah and Jo continued to cling on to Grace when she did and looked nervously over to her, unsure what to make of the situation.  
>"Hello you two" She smiled at them "My name's Mandy and I'm going to help you. Come on now, we need to pack up a few things and take you both to your new home. You gonna help me?" Grace nudged them both to try and encourage them, and nodded to confirm it was alright when they looked at her. Eventually they both started to move to pack things, Hannah made Grace help her and Mandy helped Jo, though he kept asking Grace to help him as well which she tried to ignore so as to let Mandy gain trust with him. She smiled as Hannah showed her each of her tops one by one, quite proud of each of them. Grace taught her to fold them carefully as they packed them in the case and was glad that she got the hang of it quickly, though it did slow them down a little as she checked each one with her for approval.<p>

After a while they found themselves packed and ready to go. Grace took their hands and led them down to Mandy's car. She'd already checked for full details on where they were staying so she could visit and promised them she'd go in a week to see how they were settling in. She put the seat belts on both children and shut the doors, letting them both go and standing back. Mandy came over to her,  
>"Thank you Grace, you've been ever so helpful with them… they seem to have become quite attached to you despite only meeting you a couple of hours ago."<br>"I know, it surprised me rather, but I'm glad I was able to help. I'll visit them for a bit, but they'll settle in fine…" Grace smiled, but Mandy needed to ask her one more thing before they went.  
>"I don't mean to speak out of turn, but have you ever considered fostering? You seem to be a natural." Grace was quite shocked at this, but realised social workers probably do this every day, it is their job.<br>"Not really, it'd be impossible with the job, I mean, I love kids but I'm hardly ever home. Sorry." Mandy nodded.  
>"Understandable really in your line of work, always worth asking. Well, I'd better get them back. See you next week." Mandy got in to the car and drove off, Grace watched as they went, having already dismissed what the social worker said, and heading to her car so she could get to the hospital.<p>

"You took your time," Lisbon had seen Van Pelt walk in through the doors of the emergency room, she'd been crying. "What took so long? Are you alright?" Grace seemed fairly unresponsive, heading towards Rigsby's room. "You should know before you go in there… Van Pelt! Listen to me, please." Grace sighed and turned around, and all of a sudden really took in the surroundings of the busy room. There were all different sorts of people there, men with broken legs, children with crayons up their nose and relatives looking worried, looking just as she felt….  
>"What is so important Lisbon? I just want to see him! It's my fault this has all happened, I need to explain, I didn't mean it… the first one was right it must have slipped…" She could feel her eyes well up as she spoke about it, remembering what happened. "I'm sorry, I promised I wouldn't blame myself, but it's Wayne…" Grace didn't even care what Lisbon thought of that, it was the truth and right now she needed to talk to someone, Lisbon was really the only person other than Rigsby she could really talk to even a little bit.<br>"Va… Grace, I promise you, you did everything right okay? You need to be strong for Rigsby, I know what you mean about it being him, I think we all know how you two feel about each other and it's times like this where I'm not going to reprimand you for it either so don't worry about that. But you can't go in there without hearing me out, I need to explain what the doctor told us." She placed a hand on Grace's shoulder and led her to sit down near the entrance to the room Rigsby was in.

"Grace…" Lisbon began, trying to phrase this in her head in a way that wouldn't cause Grace to fall in to a breakdown of guilt or upset. "Wayne fell unconscious, just after we left the house. He started mumbling when we got outside, nobody could make out what he was saying…" She started to get in to the flow of explaining when a voice behind her interrupted.  
>"Actually, not true, I could. He said he was very sorry and to tell Grace not to blame herself and that he was hungry… though I don't think that bit was meant for Van Pelt." Jane blurted out, before he even realised it was Grace she was talking to. "Oh, hey V-P!" Lisbon glared at him.<br>"Experimenting with names? Now? Not the time Jane, just go find someone else to piss off" She was nearly growling by the time she'd finished, which scared Jane slightly, so he walked off. Unfortunately, Lisbon hadn't seen Grace stand up whilst she'd been glaring at Patrick Jane. She rushed over to the door and ran in; unable to wait for anymore explanation, but what faced her was a site to shock anyone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all! Here's chapter 4 for your enjoyment. I'm doing pretty well at updating this at the moment! Can't promise that you'll get a new chapter everyday all the time, but i'll do my best :)**

** It's great to know there's people reading this out there, would also be nice to know what you think? No pressure though :)**

**Yeh, still don't own owt... :(**

There were so many tubes, hanging from everywhere, so many different colours and sizes. The machines beeped at different pitches and speeds like an orchestra tuning up together, but these beeps were the only definite sign of life in the room. He lay on the bed ever so still, arms beside his side and looking ever so pale to the point where all colour had drained from his body and only the movement of the chest confirmed there was life, however small. Grace walked over to the chair that sat beside the bed but didn't sit in it. She took his hand, shocked at the weight of it when he wasn't holding it back. She wished he was holding it back, just a little squeeze even, something that meant he was awake and would be okay; but he didn't even jump slightly as he usually did.

"You look so peaceful… but not in a good way. You can't do this to me Wayne, not to any of us, you understand me?" she almost chuckled to herself when she realised what she'd said. "You always said I was the boss in our relationship, that's never changed even now has it? Usually I can make you do anything for me, this is not the time to stop listening to me…" she sat down now, noticing the scar on the side of his neck, near to the shoulder. "That day you didn't wear your vest, you scared the life out of me. I've never forgotten it, not just for the fact I got shot but the worry I felt the whole time we were knocking on those doors. It's a feeling I never felt again, until today; because today there was nothing I could do, there's still nothing I can do and it's my fault you're in here… and you were wearing your vest."

The door creaked open and a nurse came in, she smiled gently at Grace and went to check the monitors and write things on his notes. The thought ran through Van Pelt's mind that she should let go of his hand at that moment, but something stopped her – she knew what that was, love.  
>"Sorry, I haven't met you yet… I'm Sister Davis, I'm the nurse on intensive care today, we're transferring him up soon." The words 'intensive care' caused Grace to shiver slightly, she didn't want to think of him up there, it just made it so much more real… but she realised the sister was waiting for a response.<br>"Agent… sorry, habit, Grace Van Pelt… we work together." She'd not yet looked up from Wayne, simply registered the sister's presence and that was about it.  
>"I see, I thought…" Nurse Davis must have thought better of that, "you must be a close team, all of you being here for him." Grace nodded in reply.<br>"We're each others family… how it works in this job." By this point the nurse had moved in to Grace's view and she could see a shocked look on her face.  
>"Really? I thought you looked the type to settle down, kids n that. You both do really…" This annoyed Grace, why didn't people just come straight out with the question instead of hinting at it?<br>"I'm not, and he's not. And no we're not together, we can't be…" with that the sister left, clearly realising that conversation was over.

Grace woke up the next morning by a nudge from Lisbon, who had clearly been home to wash and change as had the others.  
>"They're moving him now, and you should get home and change," Grace opened her mouth to argue, "That's an order Van Pelt. Home, now. I'll accompany you though, not letting you drive home in this state." Lisbon finished, leaving her with no choice and so they headed out to the car.<p>

Lisbon drove Grace home, and began to get curious. "What did happen yesterday? You were a good 3 hours before you arrived… if not longer." Grace suddenly remembered Jo and Hannah, the looks on their faces when she said they had to go without her, she sighed gently and realised she couldn't wait a week to visit.  
>"The social worker just took a while; I explained what happened to them… it was easier than I thought I guess." She continued to think about going over there later.<br>"Take it you didn't leave when she arrived?" Lisbon asked, seeing Grace's reaction talking about them.  
>"They wouldn't let me, and I didn't really want to… Lisbon, sorry, could you just drop me off round the corner?" Jane had been following them ready to take her back to the hospital when the car was all parked up.<br>"It's still a while till your place, why here?" The boss clearly wasn't letting this go easily. Grace sighed gently.  
>"I just need to visit them, check they settled in. I said I'd leave it a week but they just looked so upset… I feel I should just check, and then I promise I'll go home and sort myself out. I'll even ring you from home to prove it?" This seemed to convince Theresa enough to park up at the nearest convenient spot. "Thank you." Grace said to her, taking the keys from her and getting out, locking the car up. She said goodbye to both her and Jane as they drove off and headed round to the home.<p>

There was no one there when she walked in, they didn't have a reception here because it seemed better for the children to have a less formal atmosphere, but she knew just to wander round a bit – she'd been here a couple of times before in a more professional manner. The head care worker Harry came out not long after, he smiled when he saw her.  
>"Agent Van Pelt, to what do we owe the pleasure? Not that these are usually pleasant conversations… no offence." Grace chuckled; she rarely had pleasant conversations outside of the office, they usually involved death.<br>"Nobody's died, at least not that I'm aware of… or that is relevant to this. Anyway, more of a social call? In a slightly professional manner. You had two children brought in last night? Hannah and Joseph Jacobs…" Harry nodded; the look on his face puzzled Grace slightly.  
>"You were involved in that then? Sad story… poor kids, but they seem more bothered about leaving their house than losing their dad… seem like they could be difficult though. Follow up visit?" This puzzled her even more, why would he see them as difficult? Upset sure but… not difficult.<br>"You could say that. And I noticed that, but maybe they'd noticed the truth about who he really was…." She tried not to sound annoyed that he seemed to be so against them, she felt somewhat protective of them…  
>"You may well be right… well, Hannah's on the first floor, second door on the left and Jo's two doors along on the right. Though they're allowed to wander so they may be anywhere" They'd separated them? Grace decided arguments wouldn't help anyone, so headed upstairs to try and find them both.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, hope you're enjoying this! Please review and let me know what you think :)**

**Yes! I finally own... no wait, that was a dream. Still own nothing, all characters etc. belong to Bruno Heller and his team**

When she reached the top of the stairs Grace could here the noise of lots of children talking at once. Heading along the corridor she checked Hannah's room, but it was empty and so she headed towards Joseph's room, where she realised the noise got a lot louder. She opened the door and looked in, seeing Hannah and Jo sat on the bed with all the other kids asking them many questions. Grace moved her way around the children who soon quietened down when they spotted her.  
>"Leave them alone okay? Go on, out you go." Grace made sure they all left and found both children running to her.<br>"You came back!" Jo smiled up at her. "I don't like it here, everyone keeps asking about daddy and they made us sleep in different rooms… Hannah was scared." She knelt down, putting an arm round each of them and holding them close.  
>"I know… I know I'm so sorry both of you, I didn't think to tell them… but you'll be alright. They all just want to get to know you." Grace smiled to try and reassure them it would be okay, but a part of her didn't want to leave them here. She spent the next half hour just talking to them, answering questions of the many things they were concerned about.<p>

Harry had come in a few minutes ago, but none of them noticed him straight away until he came over. "I see what you mean," he smiled at Grace with them, "you're quite the natural." Hearing him say this confirmed something in her mind that was the second time she'd heard that in 24 hours. In her mind she started thinking it over, she knew what she said to Mandy and the job would make it ever so difficult to look after kids, especially this young and 2 of them. However now Grace felt she would find some way around it, for these two. She didn't know how yet, but she was going to look after them and she couldn't leave them here much longer.  
>"Harry, can I have a word? In your office maybe…" Grace looked up to him and he nodded, heading out to his office. She looked down to the children "I won't be long. You go play or something yeh?" she hesitated before letting go of them and heading out after Harry.<p>

Sitting down opposite him, she felt like she had back when she had her CBI interview – excited but nervous, not quite sure how this would work out but not really caring, it was what she wanted.  
>"I did kind of use my job as an excuse today, sorry about that. Not strictly on duty at the moment…" she spoke up, unsure quite where to start the conversation about this. Harry just smiled at her.<br>"I'd guessed. Mandy had already warned me you might come, though I didn't put name to face until you turned up. I take it we're here to talk my business not yours?" Typical, she'd never been a great lier but she did think Harry had bought the follow-up meeting story.  
>"Yeh, we are… the kids have got really quite attached to me and me to them. I feel kind of protective over them… I know I shot their dad but this isn't guilt, he would've hurt them if he wasn't already. Mandy mentioned about fostering and I dismissed it because of the job but… well I've had time to think." Grace knew she was babbling by this point so looked up to Harry, giving him a chance to speak.<br>"There's paperwork… but I think we could fast track this, 2 of 3 days maybe?" Grace smiled, that was good enough for her.

Lisbon sat in her office, filling in all the paperwork about Rigsby. They'd all had a couple of days off but normal service had to be resumed, people didn't stop dying. She sighed as she reached yet another point she needed Van Pelt for on the forms. Looking up from the mountain of paperwork she saw Grace's desk still empty.  
>"Come on Van Pelt…" she sighed, it wasn't really the paperwork that bothered her, it was the reason Grace wasn't in. The last anyone heard of her was the text she'd had the previous day off Grace saying she wouldn't be able to get to the hospital, well actually it was more 'Can't. Sorry.' She knew what Van Pelt was like, how she'd reacted to things before and after O'Laughlin, this really worried her.<p>

It was a good hour before Grace managed to get in to work, she dropped her bad at her desk and looked up to find Lisbon there, and looking more relieved than angry that she was late.  
>"We were about to send out a search party for you. How you feeling?" Lisbon smiled, slightly confused that Grace wasn't looking like she'd spent the last couple of days in tears.<br>"Sorry, lost track of time. Had people insp… visiting this morning, load of paperwork to fill in. I'm fine, well, tired. Erm… how's Wa… Rigsby?" There was that look. As soon as Grace said his name her smile fell and the face that replaced it was full of worry and guilt.  
>"No change… I was surprised you didn't come in…" Lisbon said, looking at her with concern for her friend. Grace sighed; she nearly had got in but every time she'd reached the door of her flat that picture filled her head. That picture of her love lying there, tubes everywhere… she couldn't do it. Instead she'd distracted herself by sorting things for Hannah and Jo, making sure everything was perfect. Lisbon saw she was getting no reply and tried something different. "The paperwork this morning, wouldn't have anything to do with Harry from the care home calling me for a reference would it?" There was an immediate change in Van Pelt's face as she thought of Hannah and Jo, their faces when she told them the news…so happy.<br>"It may do…" she smiled, "I'm officially a foster carer, picking them up tonight. They even said I might be able to complete the adoption papers by the end of the week. I'd never even thought about if before but I already feel like their mom and they're certainly treating me like it. I know it'll be difficult with work as well but… I'll work it out, somehow." Lisbon chuckled.  
>"You'll be the perfect mom Grace, we'll support you all the way." The agent smiled, her colleagues rarely called her by her first name, that was usually reserved for Rigsby… speaking of whom.<br>"I know I've only just got here, but is there any way I could go to the hospital…" Grace didn't need to continue.  
>"Go, go on. We can hold the fort I'll call if we need you." Lisbon let her go, paperwork could wait, her agents feeling couldn't.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Why hello again! I have to say, I need to thank SweetLoveOfMine for the review, it's helped me work out where this story shall be going! I had a vague idea before, but now it's fully planned :). Thanks to all my other reviewers as well, really appreciated. As it would be for this chapter too! **

**Still no ownership :(**

She stood outside for a minute or two, watching him from outside the ward. Through the windows it seemed less real, she could almost pretend it wasn't her Wayne… but she couldn't stay out there forever. Grace pressed the button with a shaking hand and the door clicked open. The sister from the other day was in there and smiled at her, Grace attempted a return as she sat down beside Wayne and took his hand. She took a while to take everything in again.  
>"You should talk to him, it helps." The nurse told her.<br>"Him or me? He's in a coma…" Grace shivered at the sound of the word.  
>"He is, but lots of people who wake up from comas say they remember what was said around them. Go on, I promise I won't listen." She smiled and headed over to another patient. Grace hesitated for a moment, but chuckled at the idea of being able to talk to Rigsby without interruption.<p>

"This doesn't happen to often… though I did used to talk to you when you slept but that was different. You're missing a lot. They confirmed Jacobs was the murderer as that's one thing at least. But you know the kids? Well, you never met them… and you can't answer me either. Anyway, they're really lovely. There's Jo, he's 5, although he keeps reminding me he's nearly 6. You'd like him; he's really in to his food, you'll have to meet him after. Well you'll meet them both when you're better. Hannah's 3, she's got hair like mine when I was little. She asks lots of questions about work, and she loves playing with my hair. I think I might end up with some really funny hair styles after tonight. Oh yeh I haven't told you that bit yet… I'm fostering them, and probably adopting them. I know what you'll say, it's really quick, but this really feels right you know? You'll see what I mean soon darling." Grace took his hand again, stroking the back with her thumb. "I'm sorry, I'm babbling aren't I? Though you always said you don't mind me babbling… so I guess I can get away with this. I can't stay much longer though, I'm meant to be working and I need to be ready to be at the home for 6. I haven't really worked out what's going to happen tomorrow, with work and the kids and that… do you think Lisbon would kill me if I had to take them in? It'd only be one day… no I can't. I'll have to work it out, maybe take a day off whilst they settle in. Damn I wish you were here, you'd be able to help me decide…" Grace stayed for a little while, she couldn't really bare to leave his side. After some time her phone went off, and though she couldn't answer in the hospital she knew that meant back to work. "I love you… I'll be back as soon as I can yeh?" she smiled gently; she knew he loved her smile. Kissing his forehead gently she left, not caring what anyone thought.

The rest of the day seemed to go fairly quickly. They were soon on another case, murder of a local man – pretty bloody one at that. Van Pelt spent the majority of her afternoon sat in front of the computer; running searches on pretty much everything whilst Lisbon, Jane and Cho visited relatives and important places. She didn't mind being left back for once, after the last time it was good to be back at the safety of her desk. They knew this was going to be a difficult case, there was very little evidence and very few people seem to know much about this guy, which made life a little difficult. Half 5 seemed to arrive before anyone was ready for it, and Grace found it quite odd to be the first one leaving.  
>"I'm sorry boss, I really do have to go…" she got up, grabbing her coat and bag. "I promise I'll get it sorted. I'm running searches overnight and I'll get the results to you asap." She checked a few last things on the screen before picking her phone up from the desk.<br>"Honestly it's fine, we have working hours like everyone else. The rest of us are staying late anyway, it's not a problem. See you tomorrow." Lisbon smiled, but Grace froze, turning round in the doorway.  
>"I haven't managed to work out what to do yet tomorrow… the kids will have only just arrived, I don't want to leave them with strangers…" The junior agent suddenly realised this was going to be a problem, why did a complicated case have to appear now?<br>"Oh right… well that's understandable, but I don't really know what to do. I suppose you're not going out at the moment… would they be alright here? You could always use my office instead… I know it's not practical, but the boss is away so we shouldn't be pulled up on it…" Lisbon wouldn't normally have allowed it, but this was Grace, she was sensible.  
>"That would be great thank you, Jo'll be thrilled" she smiled and ran out, scared she'd be late.<p>

"Hannah leave my things alone!" Jo shouted at her, they were both packing up as she walked in. Harry stood in the corner, watching. Grace walked in and gave him a look.  
>"Why aren't you helping them? They're only little." Harry sighed, looking at them both arguing.<br>"They refused to let me, Hannah was insistent she can fold her own clothes and Jo just wanted you to do it. And now they're fighting." She didn't even bother to point out he should be the one in charge here, they were hers now anyway. Looking over she saw Hannah trying to refold Jo's clothes and chuckled slightly.  
>"Hey you two! Stop arguing yeh? This is meant to be a happy time. Jo's packed his clothes fine sweetheart, just like you've done yours really well too. It doesn't matter that they are different." Grace smiled, but Hannah just looked concerned.<br>"But which one right?" Hannah asked, looking up at her.  
>"Both are, there's just more than one right way, but that's okay. Now, let's get these cases shut and go home yeh?" This seemed to distract Hannah from worrying about clothes, and they both rushed to finish everything off.<p>

After a great palaver getting everything in to the car and then in to the flat at the other end, they eventually all made it back to Van Pelt's. Both kids were very excited to be in their new home and immediately ran around discovering all the new places, Grace smiled as she followed them round, explaining what everything was and showing them their room. It was getting quite late by this point though, so Grace started to cook dinner, allowing them to have the TV on in the lounge. Once things were in the oven she stood in the doorway, watching them both. She smiled as they sat together, watching some children's programme that Grace could only assume she was going to have to get in to quite quickly and looking so happy. She knew life was going to be different now, it was going to be brighter with those two in it; there was still something missing though, a small hole needed filling. Her mind drifted back to the sight of Wayne lying on the ICU bed and she felt a small, cold tear roll down her cheek. He was the missing part to her life, the one thing she really needed but didn't have… and now he was lying in a hospital bed because of her, how could she let her life carry on?  
>"What wrong Grace?" She looked down to see Hannah standing in front of her, looking worried at the fact Grace was crying. She was going to have let her life carry on, for these two, and she knew Wayne wouldn't want it any other way.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello again! Here is the 7th chapter, hope you enjoy! Please review.**

**Nope, mentalist still isn't mine.**

"Please don't cry. Mummy cry, no like it…" Grace left her trance as she heard Hannah saying this. It suddenly occurred to her that she'd never even questioned what happened to their mum, she'd just assumed dad was a single parent. Nobody had mentioned anything either….  
>"Did mummy cry a lot?" she picked Hannah up, taking her to sit back with Jo and aimed the question at both of them. They both nodded, their moods changing and Hannah buried her head in to Grace.<br>"Daddy hurt mummy. She cried lots. One day Mummy went away, Daddy said she didn't want to see us no more." Joseph told Grace, clearly having not told anyone before. Immediately a number of questions popped in to Grace's head.  
>"Sweetheart, when did Mummy go?" Why had no one from social picked up on this? Or was there something being hidden from her, and maybe even the kids?<br>"Friday…" Jo said, after having worked it out carefully. Friday? It was only Wednesday now… so their mum had only gone a day before the murder, why had this not been picked up on? Grace looked at the children, smiling to try and convince them that everything was okay. No wonder they'd become so clingy to her, they wanted their Mummy back.

After dinner, she sent Hannah to play upstairs and asked Jo to carry on watching the TV for a bit. She needed to understand what was going on here, but she didn't want Hannah to get anymore upset than she was. When she'd washed up she went to sit down beside Joseph.  
>"It's bedtime soon," he said, pointing at the clock.<br>"I know sweetheart, I just need to talk to you about something, it won't take long I promise." Jo nodded, and Grace took a deep breath before asking. "Did Daddy ever hurt you?" She was utterly relieved when he shook his head; that was something at least.  
>"Only Mummy. But we don't like Daddy, he shouts lot." That explained why they were so unaffected by what happened she could only presume. Grace took Jo in her arms, hugging him protectively.<br>"It's alright now, he won't shout anymore… just one last thing, do you know your mummy's name?" He looked up at her, completely confused.  
>"Mummy!" he answered, Grace smiled – it wouldn't help her find their mum but it was ever so cute.<br>"Of course, how silly of me eh? Shall we get you to bed?" There was no objection to that, he was one tired boy.

The next morning, Grace got up earlier than usual. She hadn't slept that night for thinking about the mum, trying to piece together all the information she had so she could try and find out what happened to her. She'd spent a good proportion of the night with a pen and paper trying to write down everything she knew about this woman, anything that might help her sort out this problem. She now had enough to be able to run a search at work; she just needed to get there. Jumping in the shower, she realised she would have to play this cool for the kids sake, but she didn't want to let them down now. She got herself dressed quickly and headed to the children's room.

Opening the door slowly, she smiled at the sight of both the children fast asleep. They looked so peaceful she almost couldn't bear to wake them, but she couldn't be late in to work even if she wanted to, not today. Hannah seemed to stir slightly as she went over to her, so she left Jo for a moment longer. "Good morning sleepyhead," Grace smiled at her and the gesture was returned as Hannah woke up.  
>"Time to get up?" she asked and Grace nodded. "What we do today?"<br>"Well, we're going to go and see where I work. So you need to make sure you look really pretty yeh? Let's find you something to wear…." Grace picked her up out of bed and got her case out, letting her look for her favourite dress.  
>"Will we meet police people?" Joseph's voice came from underneath the duvet as he woke up, having heard what Grace had said to Hannah.<br>"You will indeed, all my friends you'll get to meet. They're very excited." She smiled at him. "You going to find something nice to wear too? We'll get you both ready and have breakfast before we go.

When they eventually arrived at CBI HQ, Grace breathed a sigh of relief. She had no idea that it could be quite so difficult to get two children up, washed and breakfasted; but she didn't really mind. The security guard gave her a bit of a strange look as she flashed her ID at him, smiling and heading up, arriving just in time.  
>"I was certain you were going to be late!" Lisbon looked at Jane; clearly some sort of bet had been going on before they arrived, Grace rolled her eyes.<br>"You two are shocking, you really are…" Grace grinned. "This is Hannah and Jo, who are very excited to meet you."  
>"Well hello there Hannah and Jo" Jane smiled at them. "How'd you like magic?" Lisbon and Grace looked at each other, wondering quite how this would go. Both children looked very excited at the suggestion of magic. "Well, then, let's see what we can find…" he reached behind Jo's ear and pulled a coin out, doing the same to Hannah. "Well well, why've you been keeping that there then?" Hannah looked at Jane, almost in awe and Jo made her thought verbal.<br>"That's so cool!" All 3 agents giggled at him. Grace looked towards Lisbon's office that she'd made available to her. She crouched down between the children,  
>"You want to stay with Mr Jane while I go sort something out? I won't be too long." They both nodded, still watching Patrick.<br>"We'll have some fun, whilst you go work. Enjoy Van Pelt." Jane grinned, yeh okay so he thought he had the better end of the deal… well he did have the better end of the deal, but she needed to get this done.  
>Lisbon began to call to her as she headed to her office<br>"Let me know the… results…" she tailed off, too late as Grace had already gone.

Sitting down at the computer, she ignored the completed results from last nights search and began a new one, typing in all the information she had. She checked it over, just to make sure. Surname: Jacobs; Children: Hannah and Joseph; Marital status: Married; Husband: Paul. That was all she knew, she added to check for missing or deceased reports, and set it going. Nervously she watched it begin, she knew it would take a little bit of time so returned to her work from the previous day, but she found this difficult to concentrate on knowing that soon enough she would have an answer to her question. Glancing up, Grace saw Jane and Lisbon keeping Hannah and Joseph amused. She smiled as she saw how happy they were, and laughed when Hannah managed to trip Jane up running through his legs. Checking how the search was getting on, she headed out to see them all.  
>"Of all the things to get you down Jane, it's a 3 year old girl." She chuckled, "Well done Hannah, well done." Hannah giggled too and ran over to her.<br>"Sorry to spoil the fun, any news Van Pelt?" Lisbon looked to her. She shook her head,  
>"Nothing, sorry boss. I'll try something else." She highly doubted she'd get round to that today, but she could pretend.<br>"Boss, we're up." Cho appeared from nowhere; in fact Grace couldn't even remember seeing him when she came up, however he moved around so quietly you never really knew. Lisbon and Jane immediately started to get going, saying goodbye to the kids.  
>"Right, come on you two, I've got a job for you…" Grace smiled, taking in the odd order from Lisbon before they left. She went back in to the office, grabbing some papers from her desk on the way. "These lot need shredding, but the shredders broken… what dya reckon?" she grinned, and immediately they began ripping the paper up. Grace made her way back to the computer and sat down; something had popped up. 'Search complete, 1 result: Megan Jacobs admitted to Mercy General. On Friday.'<p>

"Oh…"

**I'm going to warn you all now, I have loads of tests and coursework on at school for the next couple of weeks so writing is going to slow rather. But don't give up on me! I'm not going to give up on the story at all, it just might take longer for me to post up chapters. After that I have half term and then I can get lots of writing done, so just hold on! I'll do my best for you all :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the wait, here's Chapter 8! I can't promise the next chapter will be up before next weekend, but i'll do my best! Stick with it, I will get there :) Please review if you'd like**

**Still own nothing, it's all Bruno Heller's stuff! **

Later that day, Grace found herself sat in ICU again. Jane had offered to look after Hannah and Jo for an hour whilst she visited Rigsby, however she knew that wasn't the only reason she was here. She took Wayne's hand, sighing softly.  
>"Come on Wayne… wake up for me. I need you back with me, so much. I told you about Hannah and Jo last time I was here, I'm sure of that. Well, I found out last night that their mum disappeared on Friday. I'd assumed she'd gone years ago, turns out we should never assume as Jane constantly reminds us. Thing is, apparently their dad was abusing the mum… and then last Friday he told them that mummy wasn't coming back, didn't want to see them anymore. I ran a search this morning; she's here, in the hospital. I'm totally scared though, I mean, what do I do? Or say? I phoned in earlier, but they can't tell me details obviously. I promised them I'd be there at 4 so I don't have much longer here, but I really needed to talk to you." She watched him breathing, trying to forget that he machine was breathing for him, letting it relax her. "How do you still calm me down even like this? I really don't know… but I'm not complaining. But please, please wake up Wayne; I can't bear seeing you like this." The clock reached five to four and she knew she had to go. "I'll see you again soon sweetheart…" she kissed him gently on the cheek before leaving; glancing over her shoulder until she'd left the room.<p>

His eyes opened just after she left and he started to choke on the tube down his throat. Before long someone came over and removed it, along with a couple of nurses who began checking things over and talking to each other about his condition in what he considered a foreign language. Looking round he could work out roughly where he was, he could certainly remember how he'd got here. Rigsby opened his mouth to try and speak but nothing came out, it was too dry. One of the nurses eventually sat the bed up and got him some water.  
>"Welcome back, this will help rather a lot." She handed the cup to him and smiled. "You just missed Ms Van Pelt visiting you, bad timing eh?" Rigsby nodded, sipping the water allowing him to speak.<br>"I heard her…" he smiled slightly; he'd heard everything she said just now as he was coming round slowly and he felt for her, knowing what she was doing right now.  
>"If you want I can call her? Let her know you're awake?" Rigsby nodded, he could really do with seeing her right now.<p>

Grace made it downstairs just in time to meet the doctor. He recognised her immediately, presumably from previous visits she had made for one case or another.  
>"Good afternoon, thank you for agreeing on this." Grace smiled, though rather nervous about what was about to happen.<br>"That's alright," Dr Magowell replied, leading her through to his office," Please, take a seat." They both sat down and the doctor got a folder out that Grace guessed was Megan's notes.  
>"So you're here about Mrs Jacobs?" Grace nodded.<br>"Megan, that's right. We worked on a case her husband was to be arrested for. I'm fostering her kids, but no one mentioned the mum so I assumed she'd been out of the picture a while until the kids mentioned her, so I thought I'd track her down." She noticed her hands were shaking so she did her best to hide it. Magowell nodded and looked through the notes.  
>"Mrs Jacobs was found round the corner from the hospital by a nurse on Friday; she'd been very badly beaten and was in a lot of pain. She went straight to surgery when she arrived and had her spleen removed, it's been very touch and go since, though she seems to be getting slowly better. I have to say she hasn't mentioned the children at all, or her husband." Grace nodded, feeling awful about everything that's happened to her.<br>"I see… well given that I can pretty much assume it was the husband's doing I'm not surprised about that… and I guess she's trying to protect the children. Poor woman… can I talk to her? I won't be long I promise. I just need to… well, you can work it out."  
>"Yeh sure, come on through. Just be aware she can't be getting too excited or stressed so be careful, please." He stood up, showing Grace through to the side bay where Megan was being treated.<br>"Thank you." Grace said as he left, and she went over to Megan.

"Who is it?" Megan asked as Grace walked over, there's a question that was difficult to answer.  
>"I work with the CBI… your husband, we went to arrest him… well, he threatened one of our agents, and we were forced to shoot…" Megan kept facing the wall away from Grace as she talked. "He died, I'm sorry…" Grace watched as she froze. Megan spoke as she started to turn over, "The kids… are they okay? I need to…" As soon as the two women saw each other the conversation stopped. Grace had to blink to check she was really seeing what she thought she was. "Grace?" Megan said, looking completely shocked and ever so ill.<br>"Megan… I had no idea… oh my gosh all this was happening to you…" Grace didn't really know how to react, she'd not seen her sister for years and all this time she'd been hurt… and had kids. Hannah and Jo were her niece and nephew? That explains why Hannah looks shockingly like herself. This was an awful lot to take in…  
>"You know what happened then? Can't say I'm upset about Paul, he had that coming… but what about the kids?" Megan was looking paler as she thought about it.<br>"They're with me. Well, not now, obviously, they're being looked after at work. They're fine, but Hannah mentioned you last night, I'd pretty much assumed that you were out of the picture, but when she said that… I dug deeper, then ran a search to find you. I'm so glad I did…" Grace moved closer to her.  
>"Thank you… really… I'm surprised you haven't left already to be honest Grace…" Megan said, sounding weaker.<br>"I don't care, it's the past. You're ill, with two children who miss you… I'm here to help." As she said this her phone started to vibrate, she pulled it out and answered as there were no staff around. "Hello? Yes… oh my gosh, thanks for telling me. I'll be right up." She hung up. "Sorry Megan I have to go… my friend's in ICU, just woken up. I'll be back though, I promise. I'll bring the kids tomorrow, they'll love to see you."  
>"Tell them who you are Grace, they'll love to know… I mentioned you once or twice…" she smiled slightly.<p>

Grace left the room, pausing when she was outside and rubbing her face gently trying to work out what had just happened. Her sister had been suffering domestic abuse and she had no idea because of a stupid grudge she'd held from years ago. She had a nephew and niece who had suddenly become reliant on her without even knowing they were related, and the love of her life had just woken from a deep coma and she had to explain everything that happened… this was so hard.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey again, managed to write a bit more! So here's chapter 9 for your enjoyment :) Review if you like!**

**Still own nothing.**

Back on the 6th floor she walked towards ICU where Rigsby had woken up. Her brain by this point was pretty frazzled, and she didn't know what to say to Wayne at all. She smiled to see him sat up, and was let in by the nurse who had been there earlier.  
>"Thank you…" Grace said to her, and walked over to Rigsby.<br>"Hello you," he smiled holding out a hand for her which she happily took. "How did it go with the mum?" Grace looked confused at him. "I could hear, at least that last babble. It was quite sweet really." She smiled, though felt herself go a bit red as she realised he'd heard her say everything. She sat down beside the bed.  
>"It… well… It went…" Despite her best efforts, Grace couldn't stop herself from crying. "I have completely messed up Wayne, so badly…" She leant in to his chest, just needing him at this moment, knowing he'd manage to help her somehow.<br>"I told you not to blame yourself sweetheart, you did what you had to do. I'm fine, the children are fine, and you've saved everyone that matters." Rigsby stroked her hair gently but she looked up at him, shaking her head.  
>"You don't get it. I don't mean you, though I messed that up too. I just didn't see the obvious; I didn't do what I should have done so long ago. Because I'm a selfish cow Wayne, I just couldn't let it go." It was becoming harder to talk as she cried more, her memories flooding back of the past.<br>"Let what go Grace? You are the least selfish person I have ever met." Grave sighed; she had no idea how to tell him.

_She'd arrived home late from school that day, got caught up on the way home. She'd run home because Adam was coming round and would have arrived half an hour previously.  
>"Megan? I'm sorry you've had to look after Adam, I know he's a talker" she chuckled, looking in the living room. Neither her elder sister nor her boyfriend were in there so she jogged upstairs.<br>"Megan? Adam? Where are you?" She knocked on her sister's door before walking in, and regretting it. What lay before her was a sight no one wants to see. Megan and Adam were lying on Megan's bed, under the covers, kissing each other – something had clearly already happened.. "Stop it! How could you?" Grace shouted at the both of them before running out of the room and in to hers, crying.  
>She heard Adam getting up and dressed quickly, the two of them talking to each other about something Grace could make out. He soon left, and Megan came back upstairs to talk to her. "Go away! I don't want to see you!" Grace shouted at her sister, not even looking round at her.<br>"Grace please… come on, let's not fall out now, I'm moving tomorrow, I don't want to leave on bad terms…"  
>"Well you're the one that slept with my boyfriend, you made that decision! Just leave!" Megan shut the door just before the pillow Grace had thrown hit her. <em>

"That was the last time I spoke to her Wayne… she left the next day, I refused to go with them to see her off, and I never listened when they spoke about her. It was stupid, Megan and I were like, best friends when we were younger, but I let that one thing come between us and we haven't spoken for so many years. Look what I've missed out on, and look what I could have stopped. She's been abused by her husband, she's lived through hell and I wasn't there because I just couldn't let it go." Rigsby watched as Grace let out her story, taking it all in.  
>"Sweetheart, it's not your fault. Yeh okay, it happened, but if it had happened a week earlier it might have got resolved. It was just bad timing, you can't blame yourself. It's harder to let grudges go when the person isn't there to forgive. You couldn't have stopped this, you can't change the past but you can help the future. You've found her now, and you're looking after your niece and nephew, you're being the Grace I know and love because that's who you are." She knew she could rely on him to help her, he just had this way of saying the right thing to convince her she was wrong for worrying.<br>"You're right… you are… I just feel so… I don't know. I need to help her now, to make up for the past. And I will, I promise. I'll make it." Rigsby nodded, hugging her.  
>"And I'll be here for you Grace, I always will be. You've got a lot resting on you now, so you need someone to babble to, and I can do that because I rather enjoy your babble." Grace chuckled gently. She had no idea how he did it, but she felt better already.<br>"Thank you Wayne, really thank you. I have to go now though, I promised I'd be back by half 5 so I'm cutting it a bit fine…" she stood up, picking up her coat.  
>"Grace?" Rigsby said to her, causing her to turn around. He grabbed her hand, pulling her back over to him and kissing her gently. "I love you… I know, I know what you're going to say but I don't care, I nearly died and that puts things in to perspective."<br>"Too right it does… I love you too." She kissed him back, smiling gently. "I'll be back tomorrow."  
>"Ooo, I might get out tomorrow! Apparently I'm almost perfect." He winked at her.<br>"You're very perfect." She replied, and left to return to work.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!" Hannah ran at her as she walked back in to the bull pen. She picked her up and spun her around.  
>"Hey you, you had a good time?" she smiled, taking Jo's hand when he came over.<br>"Yeh yeh! Loads of fun!" Both children told her, smiling widely.  
>"That's very good to hear, why don't you go tidy up the paper in the office whilst I talk to Miss Lisbon and Mr Jane okay?" Grace smiled at them, putting Hannah down and letting them run off, they were never going to tidy it up but it was a distraction. She called Cho over as well, sitting down round the table.<br>"Erm… Rigsby woke up whilst I was there. He's doing really well, talking n that. He might get out tomorrow…" Grace announced to them, not sounding overly thrilled as she still couldn't get Megan out of her head. Her eyes drifted to the office where Hannah and Jo were throwing paper at each other.  
>"Well don't sound too happy. It's great news!" Even Cho seemed to look happier when Grace looked back, and she wasn't sure that was possible.<br>"Sorry, I am pleased, of course I am. Just a lot on my mind at the moment…" She stood up, leaving them confused and headed to the office. "Come on guys, let's go home. I need to talk to you about something…" They ran over to her, taking a hand each. The three of them walked out to the elevator together, Grace listening to what they'd been up to during the afternoon at the same time thinking over how she was going to tell them, and worrying about how they'd react. They were only kids, but now they were related to her as well….


	10. Chapter 10

**And here's chapter 10 for you all :) I hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it! Review if you like.**

**Own nothing still...**

They ordered pizza when they got home, Grace really didn't have the energy to cook – she'd get to distracted. Once the kids were happy eating, she sat down herself and started to nibble at hers, but she was struggling as she tried to think up how she was going to break the news to them. It was big enough news for her, but being so young she had no idea how Hannah and Jo were likely to react.  
>"Alright you two… I need to talk to you about something." They both looked up at her expectantly, and it suddenly hit her just how much they'd come to trust her. "Okay, um… I found you mummy today..." she looked at them, unsure how she wanted them to react.<br>"Mummy? She back?" Hannah replied, looking excited. Jo seemed slightly less sure about it.  
>"Yeh she's back, and she wants to see you both. She didn't mean to leave you." Grace aimed the last part at Jo and it seemed to work.<br>"So we can see her?" he asked, smiling at the idea.  
>"Yeh you can sweetheart, we're gonna go see her tomorrow. But there are a couple of things you need to know okay? Mummy's in hospital, she fell over so she's a little bit hurt, but the doctors are looking after her…" Hannah looked really worried so Grace went round and crouched between their chairs. "No no it's okay sweetie, I promise everything will be alright. But there's something else you need to know…. I didn't know who your mummy was so I went to find her, and when I did… well, turns out she's my sister. Which makes me your Auntie…" she looked at them both, no idea if they'd even understood what she'd just said. Jo was doing his 'working out' face again, so Grace kept quiet for a moment as Hannah watched him, clearly waiting for her older brother's advice.<br>"Auntie Grace! Mummy told us about you… she missed you." Grace smiled gently, glad they knew about her.  
>"Yeh I missed your mummy too. She's an amazing big sister. And now we can all be a family yeh?" She smiled, and hugged them both. "We're all gonna be absolutely fine… I promise you"<p>

The night was just as sleepless as the last. Grace found herself pacing the house, unable to sleep and struggling to keep herself sane. With the kids asleep, she didn't have to stop herself crying anymore so she let a few tears slip down as she found herself on the sofa with her photo albums, flicking through pictures of her and Megan. She soon realised how long it had been since she'd looked at these photos, had she really managed to hold a grudge for that long? Megan was 3 years older than her, and as a child Grace had always looked up to her. Everyone had always commented how close they were, how they hardly ever argued and how little you saw them apart. Her older sister was Grace's best friend, and up until that day with Adam things hadn't been any different, and yet some how she'd managed to let that one thing with one boy ruin her relationship with Megan and until now she'd not let it go… how could she do that to someone so special? And in doing so she had missed so many years in which she could have helped her sister, and make up for all those times Megan had helped her over the years, but she had missed that chance.

Rigsby had discharged himself early the next morning. In his defence, the doctor had told him he was fine, but he couldn't take being stuck in there any longer. He now found himself stood in front of Grace's front door, unsure whether to knock or not. It had been a while since he's been here, especially uninvited and he had no idea whether Grace would want him here or not. At the hospital something had happened, he'd felt that spark back properly, not being extinguished by other people's stares or thoughts… but was that just sympathy?  
>"Guess I'm about to find out…" he whispered to himself, knocking on the door.<p>

A knock at the door woke Grace up. It took her a moment to work out why she was lying on the sofa cuddling a photo album before the previous night came flooding back. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and looking at the clock, '8.30'. She suddenly realised how much she'd slept in and jumped up off the sofa, cursing herself. Then she remembered what had woken her up and she ran to the door, ignoring the fact she was in her pyjamas as she opened it.  
>"Wayne… why are you here? You should be in hospital." Grace couldn't think of much else to say when she opened the door to Rigsby, her mind was in a complete fluster and she kept checking the clock.<br>"Okay, first of all, please calm down. Secondly, I was discharged this morning and after what you said yesterday I thought you might need a bit of support… I can go if you want though?" He decided he could do without the lecture about discharging himself, knowing Grace would worry about that on top of everything else.  
>"Sorry, sorry come in. I didn't mean to upset you, I just woke up and I'm like an hour later than I usually am without 2 children to get up. I… could actually do with a hand. Are you alright to?" She noted the sling holding his arm in place, "I don't want you to hurt yourself or anything." Grace still kept looking round, worrying about how she was going to get in on time. Rigsby took her hand gently, stroking the back with his thumb as she knew this would calm her down.<br>"I will help as much as I can, that's why I'm here. Don't stress okay? I know today is going to be difficult for you so I'm here for as long as you need me okay? Come on, let's go up. You can introduce me to the kids and then sort yourself out." Wayne smiled at her, and Grace knew she had no reason to argue anymore. Somehow he always knew the solution to her problems; that's one of the many reasons she fell in love with him.

Grace led him upstairs without anymore arguments and headed in to the bedroom where she found both children awake and playing quietly with each other between their beds. Hannah looked up to her when the door opened,  
>"Auntie Grace!" It surprised Grace how quickly that had caught on, but she quite liked it. "You wake now? Jo say you sleepy"<br>"Yeh I'm awake now sweetheart, I'm sorry I'm late. You two both okay?" They nodded, both hugging her when she crouched in front of them. "You're both really good. Now, I need to go get ready, but this is my friend Wayne and he's going to help you choose some super nice clothes to wear today okay?" Again she received nods and stood up, kissing both their heads first. She turned around and headed out the door, stopping just beside Rigsby. "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes… I'm so glad you're okay."  
>"The feeling's mutual Grace, it really is." They kept eye contact for a moment, before both splitting off their separate ways, drawing a line at kissing in front of the kids – small children gossip.<p>

Somehow, in under an hour they found everyone up, washed, dressed, fed and watered. Grace sent the children to the living room to play whilst she spoke to Wayne.  
>"I genuinely wouldn't have got through that without you. I'd probably still be fretting over how to do everything so fast. Are you okay though?" she asked, just finishing the clearing up.<br>"I'm fine, I really enjoyed that, is that weird?" he grinned and Grace shook her head.  
>"It was kind of a laugh. Like old times… but with 2 children and slightly less messy." They both chuckled, and looked at each other. "I've missed this Wayne, I really have… ever since we broke up we've not spent enough time together. I know why… but we can't help how we feel can we? Even if we can't act on it, and we can't, we can still spend time together… can't we?" He didn't get a chance to answer, as her mobile lit up with Lisbon's number. Flipping it up she answered. "Agent Grace Van Pelt?"<br>"Van Pelt, we've just had a call from the hospital. You went in to visit Jacobs's wife yesterday?" Grace's face dropped, she didn't need them finding out about that yet, she just needed to work this out herself.  
>"Yeh I did… sorry I should have told you, I just wanted to work out why she hadn't been mentioned." She explained herself, pretty much telling the truth.<br>"Well I'm sure you can work out why now. Anyway, they called to say her condition has worst and asked if you could go back in. They wouldn't say why you… but I'm just passing on the message. We'll call it work. Just don't be too long okay?" Lisbon hung up, sounding slightly annoyed at her. Grace stood still for a moment, before rushing out of the kitchen and then back in.  
>"Grace, what just happened? Hey!" Rigsby grabbed her arm gently and pulled her to him. "Talk to me, what did Lisbon want?"<br>"The hospital called. Megan's got worse, I need to go in. I don't know whether to take the kids… they need to see her, but is now right? What if anything happens and they haven't seen her… what do I do Wayne?" Automatically she leant in to him, letting her stress melt away.  
>"First of all, please breathe. Then we'll get the kids and take them in to the hospital. I'll look after them whilst you go and see what's happening and make a decision then. Come on, you grab keys and I'll grab coats." She nodded, going to look for her keys and bag whilst Wayne sorted the kids out. Suddenly Grace felt ever so scared, she had no idea what she was about to face and all of a sudden, a family she only just gained could be about to fall apart.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter's a bit shorter, but I hope you enjoy :)**

**Please review guys, let me know how i'm getting on :) **

**Still own nothing.**

"_Grace, Grace! Oi , get up you lazy sod!" Megan ran at the bed and jumped on her. "Come on, we're going to be late!" Grace woke up at this, and found herself being sat on by her elder sister. She groaned and looked at the time.  
>"You're meant to be the more mature one here… it's like 2 hours before we have to leave and we were up really really late last night…" She shuffled up anyway, grinning slightly. She was only 11, and yet she acted more like a teenager than her teenage sister. However she was very excited about today, it was their first girly day out together without their mum…<em>

"Grace, hey, you getting out or not?" She suddenly realised she'd been daydreaming. It had been a very good day that day, one of her favourite memories. They'd stayed out too late that night, their mum had gone mad… but neither of them had cared. Grace recalled how they'd found themselves at some park they didn't recognise but ended up having a picnic there and laughing through the whole day. It had been a sunny day that day, not much different in temperature to how it was now, and she'd felt ever so happy. Today however, she found herself feeling the exact opposite and that scared her – her sister had always been the strong one in their relationship, but now Grace found herself having to be strong for Megan.  
>"Sorry, sorry I'm just a bit tired…" she got out of the car and picked Hannah up as she was reaching up for her.<br>"Auntie Grace? Why you sad?" Grace had suddenly realised how much she'd been projecting her feelings, and the kids had picked up on it.  
>"I'm not sad darling, just tired. Let's go inside yeh? I think there'll be some toys for you to plan with!" She did her best to sound enthusiastic and to reassure both Hannah and Jo as they went inside and found Megan's ward. The Doctor was waiting for them when they arrived, and directed them to the relatives room where Wayne took Hannah from Grace. "I'm going to go see Mummy okay? And if the doctors say it's okay then you can both see her after." She kissed both children on the head and smiled the best she could before standing up properly. "Thanks Wayne, really… thank you." She nodded to him and went out towards Megan's room.<p>

"Before you go in I need to explain," the doctor began, stopping Grace outside the door. "He condition worsened this morning. She fell unconscious about 6 and her heart stopped not long after that. We've managed to bring her back but she's in a coma. We'll be transferring her to intensive care very soon but thankfully we have the equipment here to look after her for now but there should be a bed available there this afternoon.  
>"H…how bad is she? Will she be okay?" Grace looked through the window and almost jumped back seeing Megan so still and pale.<br>"I can't promise anything right now. I'm not going to lie to you, it's not looking good right now, but it's too early to say anything until we've run further tests." The doctor opened the door for her, and followed her in. Grace could only nod in response to that, and walked over to her sister's side.  
>"Megan… I'm here babe. How you doing? Silly question… sorry… it's kinda hard to know what to say to you. It's strange you not talking back, you've always been one to have the last word. I don't mind that though, it's great to have someone to do the talking for me really. I looked through our photo album last night; you know that one you gave me that last Christmas? Brought back loads of amazing memories… can't believe I was stupid enough to let something so little ruin all that. Remember that time I managed to get drunk on like half a glass of wine, and you somehow managed to get me home and upstairs without mum noticing? You reminded me the next morning how I'd managed to throw apple juice all over you when you tried to get me in the taxi… wow I was embarrassed. I'd love to say I've never been that drunk since but… we both know otherwise don't we?" Grace smiled softly, remembering everything so well. "I can't believe this is happening now sweetheart. I've only just found you again, I can't lose you now. You need to be strong for me, like you always have been. I need you back babe… I really do. And Hannah and Jo, they need you too you know? They're being really great, already calling me Auntie Grace. But I don't know how to look after them, not long term. You're their mum, you know them so much better than I do and they need you not me… so please, wake up sis…"<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

**Two in one day :) I've had real inspiration today (plus i'm busy for the next couple of days so...)**

******Still owning nothing**

Lisbon paced up and down the bull pen, as she had been for about the past half hour. Every now and then she would stop, look at the clock and carry on again. Jane was sat on the couch as usual, watching Lisbon walk up and down, waiting for her to say something. He could see Cho sat at his desk, clicking a pen and looking bored as heck, and boy was it driving him mad.  
>"Right, that's it. Lisbon for goodness sake stop pacing I swear my head is going to snap off, Cho stop clicking before I throw the pen at your head and can we please get on with some work?" Jane stood up, it wasn't often he complained about doing nothing but there was only so much he could take of these two and their repetitive behaviour. He soon regretted suggesting such a thing when Lisbon gave him one of her looks. "Alright sorry… why on earth are you so angry? I thought you liked us using our initiative?" That got an even bigger stare; Jane sat back down in fear of being thumped.<br>"We can't work. We can't go any further without the results from Van Pelt's search. She's locked her computer so we can't get on and she promised me she wouldn't be long. She's nearly 2 hours late! I promised we'd have this case closed ASAP, if we get caught doing nothing how do you expect me to explain this one?" Jane spent the next few seconds trying to work out if he'd ever seen Lisbon so pissed before realising she was waiting for a response.  
>"Well… we could look like we're working? You go try and ring her again, Cho can… pretend to work and play minesweeper and I'll read the case file. Okay? Sorted. Just please, stop pacing!" Jane nodded gently towards her office and picked the case file up, sitting back and ignoring any further stares. If he was honest, he was pretty annoyed as well, but at the same time he'd never really seen Grace as the rebellious type and it was kind of fun.<p>

Grace however had forgotten all about work as she walked in to Megan's room with Hannah and Jo. Rigsby had stayed outside, having decided it was best to leave them alone for a moment.  
>Once the door was shut behind them, Grace let both children go so they could walk over to the bed. Jo went first, climbing up on the chair so he could see his mum properly, and his reaction almost broke her heart. She watched as Jo leant over on to the bed, carefully hugging Megan and stroking her arm – he'd clearly learnt from his mummy, Grace could remember the many times her sister had comforted her in the same way, it always helped. Hannah had stayed back, but watching her mummy closely.<br>"Is mummy sleep…?" she whispered to Grace. "She look sleepy…"  
>"Yeh she's sort of asleep sweetheart. The sleep is helping her." Grace took her hand again gently, watching Jo with Megan still.<br>"When will she wake up…?" Van Pelt froze at that question, how do you answer a question you don't know the answer to when a 3 year old's hopes are riding on it? It was enough to let a tear slip from her eye which she quickly wiped away.  
>"I don't know darling… I really don't know…" she knew that was not enough, but she had nothing else. Hannah didn't question anymore, but clearly not having a definite answer was worrying her. Eventually Grace decided to pick Hannah up and went over to the bed beside Jo. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he sat up, staying on the edge of the bed and keeping hold of Megan's hand. Grace placed Hannah beside him, allowing her to be with her mum also. The two children didn't speak after that. They both just sat at their mother's side, watching her breathe and occasionally hugging her. Grace stood back and watched them, shocked at how strong they were being about the whole thing. These were two children who loved their mum, had been through a lot with their Dad and deserved to have everything.<p>

Half an hour passed in complete silence, Grace watched how the children were with Megan, so content and seemingly accepting the situation. However at this moment the room became suddenly cold, Grace found herself pulling her jacket tighter as everything seemed to slow down. The machines beeped slower, all noise outside disappeared and she felt everything drain away. She couldn't move, her legs seemed to be stuck to the floor and her emotions fell away. She watched as the next few seconds unveiled themselves, unable to do anything to stop it. As quickly as the machines had gone slow, they went haywire. Everything went very loud, people started to run in. A nurse helped Hannah and Jo off the bed and lead them out to Wayne who was still waiting outside. Someone came over to Grace and started talking to her, but she couldn't hear anything. She couldn't stop looking at Megan, and the doctors crowding around her trying to look completely calm and yet struggling to work out what was going on.

The nurse in front of her began shouting, trying to take Grace out of the room, and quickly she flicked back in to reality.  
>"Miss we really need you to leave, the doctors need to work on Megan now. Please… come with me." Grace pulled her arm away from the nurse and ran out of the room, shock taking over her and tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. She ran passed Wayne and the children and out of the ward, finding a corner to stand in away from everyone else. Her sister was in trouble, real trouble. Something was wrong and Grace didn't know what. She couldn't lose her now, she needed her family, the children needed her parents, and they all needed Megan. Grace sobbed, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor. She wasn't strong enough for any of this, she couldn't take anymore and she certainly had no way of supporting 2 children through all this. The sound of the machines beeping still filled her head so Grace covered her ears and curled up, trying to block it all out, or maybe she'd wake up… she prayed this was all a dream as she let her head fall between her knees.<p>

**Please feel free to review, I love to know how people think the story is going, or even guesses on how it may turn out ;) Thank you all for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**New chapter is here, enjoy :)**

**Still own nothing**

"She's turned if off!" Jane heard the shout from Lisbon's office and knew this meant trouble. "What is going on with her at the moment? First she goes behind all our backs to find this woman, and then she gets involved in her situation so much that they call her about it, and now she's 3 hours late." She stormed out of the office looking angrier than Jane had seen her in a while.  
>"Lisbon, have you really stopped to think? This woman is the wife of that Jacobs guy yes?" Lisbon nodded at him, beginning her pacing all over again. "And Van Pelt is looking after the kids. That's their mum, in hospital. Do you not think that maybe she's taken the children to see her…?" That stopped her in her tracks.<br>"You may be right… but I still asked her not to be long, and why isn't she answering her phone? Sorry Jane, she's not getting off it that easily. She promised me she'd be in, and she's not. Van Pelt knows this case needs solving, she might not be that new anymore but there's no excuse." Jane shrugged, and carried on reading his book, not getting involved in this argument any longer.  
>"Whatever you think Lisbon. Whatever you think…"<p>

Wayne found himself back in the relative's room with the children but no Grace. He'd seen her run passed but there was nothing he could do, not when Hannah and Jo were so scared and Grace obviously needed time to herself. He couldn't help but wonder what she was doing though, worrying about how she was reacting to this especially being so soon after Craig… and him.  
>"Where Auntie Grace…?" Hannah pulled on Wayne's trouser leg, holding the arm of a teddy she'd found in the toy box.<br>"She's gone to have a little time on her own, she's a bit tired… don't worry she'll be back soon." Rigsby smiled at her as realistically as he could. Hannah nodded but looked upset at that idea.  
>"I want hugs… Jo want hugs too…" Wayne looked down at her and over to Jo, who had set up camp under one of the chairs since he'd last looked.<br>"Oh sweetheart… I know… she'll be back as soon as possible though I promise…" Hannah however had other ideas as she climbed up beside Wayne and snuggled in to his side. He wasn't too sure what to do straight away, but he put an arm round her gently – she needed the comfort. Jo soon followed and climbed up the other side of him, leaving Wayne with an arm around each child and his head worried sick about how Grace was going to cope.

Half an hour passed pretty fast, and the kids started to become fidgety. Wayne didn't know what to do with them anymore, Grace hadn't come back yet and he wasn't the only one worrying. He watched as Joseph ran over to the window again to look for her and how his face fell with disappointment that still she wasn't there. Wayne tried to hide the fact that he was secretly hoping she would walk in each time he checked the window. No one had come in at all since they'd left Megan's room, and he couldn't work out if that was good or bad news.  
>"Why Auntie Grace no here yet?" Hannah asked, on the verge of tears again. Rigsby sighed softly, running out of answers for them now since he'd lost how many times they'd ask.<br>"I… I don't know sweetie. She must still be busy…" Hannah nodded again, but she believed Wayne as much as he believed himself.

All three of them were watching the door when it opened, and Grace walked in. Both children ran over to her and took a leg each, but Wayne just focussed on her face, trying to read what was going on. Her red cheeks gave away that she'd been crying and straight away he just wanted to comfort her there and then.  
>"Grace… you okay…?" He asked, keeping over the other side of the room for now as Grace picked up both the children and sat down nearer the door. She looked up at him as if he was stupid and he nodded gently, of course she wasn't alright but she would never admit it in front of the kids.<p>

"When are we going back to mummy's room? I miss her…" Jo spoke up, Grace froze a little as it occurred to her she had no idea what was going on there, and it had been a long time. She looked up to Rigsby, who shook his head to say he knew nothing.  
>"When the doctors say we can darling. They're still trying to help mummy at the moment." Her voice was still shaky as she spoke.<br>"You ran away…" Hannah pointed out helpfully; Grace really had no idea how to reply to that seeing as she'd spent the last half hour practically breaking down.  
>"I just needed to be alone for a bit sweetie, by head was hurting. You were okay right?" Hannah nodded and snuggled in to her, clearly satisfied with that response.<p>

Everyone jumped up when the door opened and a nurse walked in. Wayne stayed over where he was, knowing it wasn't really his place but he stood up none the less. Grace held the kids hands and looked to her expectantly, but saw the look on her face.  
>"I'm Nurse Granger. Miss…"<br>"Grace, please…" The nurse nodded; clearly names were not her main priority at this moment in time.  
>"Okay, Grace. Erm… we've run tests on Megan. I'm afraid they show that…" she stopped and looked at the children. "Sorry, just a moment." Nurse Granger left the room and came back with another nurse who took the kids out; Grace reassured them they'd be back before long and looked up to the nurse again, nervous as heck about what she would say. "Okay, erm, we ran tests and they show that Megan had a stroke… and along with what happened before it looks like… well, she's brain stem dead. I'm so sorry." Rigsby looked up immediately to Grace, not sure what to say. She didn't react at all straight away; she opened her mouth but nothing came out. "Miss? Sorry… Grace… are you okay?" the nurse moved closer to Grace, she obviously was quite new to the job and didn't know what to do right now. "I'll leave you to come to terms with it… the children are next door." Just as the nurse turned Grace turned a ghastly white.<br>"Grace…?" Wayne walked over to her slowly. "Grace are you okay?" She turned her head to look at him, but he still couldn't work out what's going on.  
>"Fine…I'm…fi…" she began to respond before she fell to the floor.<br>"Grace!" Wayne announced, almost in sync with the nurse. "No… no come on, talk to me Grace…"

**Please review :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Penultimate chapter...! Hope you enjoy**

**Still nothing.**

The world was slightly blurry when Grace woke up. She looked around to try and make out what was going on. "Wayne…" she spoke in a slightly croaky voice.  
>"I'm here sweetheart… I'm here. You're okay; just fainted from the shock… it's alright." He held her gently; Grace suddenly noticed she had her head on his lap… she came to the conclusion she didn't mind.<br>"Auntie Grace!" the children ran over to her, both hugging her. The nurse followed them in looking slightly worn out.  
>"I'm sorry, Nurse Granger came in and they overheard us talking… I couldn't stop them they were really worried." Wayne nodded, telling her it was okay. Jo and Hannah were still hugging Grace who had put her arms round them<br>"I'm not the person they should be worrying about…" she spoke up again, sitting up. "I need to see Megan… now…" She began to stand up but had to use Wayne for assistance. "Please…" Nurse Granger came back in, hearing this. Grace held on to Wayne tightly, feeling faint all over again but wanting to see her sister. She couldn't believe what was happening right now, Megan was… dead… just machines keeping her alive. It wasn't just her world that was about to fall apart, it was Hannah and Jo's as well. How was she going to tell them? They were never going to see there mum again… and she'd promised them everything would be okay, how was she going to do this.  
>"If you come with me I'll take you to her…" the nurse was obviously very aware of what happened last time as she seemed nervous when we said that. Grace nodded, feeling quite bad for the poor girl. The other nurse took the children back from her for a while, Grace figured this would be better done without them first; she needed to say a proper goodbye. They started to walk out but she stopped, and looked round to where she'd left Rigsby.<br>"Wayne… come with me… I can't do this on my own." He nodded and went over to her and Grace allowed herself to lean in to him, whatever the rules were right now she needed him more than she ever had before.  
>"You can do this Grace…" he reassured her, and they headed to the room.<p>

"I just phoned the hospital, Rigsby definitely got out this morning, but they wouldn't tell me anything about Jacob's wife or if Grace was there." Lisbon seemed to have calmed down a bit which Jane was pleased about, though he daren't comment too much in case she got all angry again. Cho put down his phone and looked up to Lisbon.  
>"Boss, Rigsby's cutting off his calls. I just tried him like 3 times and he cut me off straight away…" Jane sighed, how could he not comment on that? It was so obvious now. The pacing had, however, begun again and he knew if he opened his mouth he'd just end up arguing again. He did have to admit, Lisbon was quite attractive when she was angry, it was just a shame he was the punch bag.<br>"Well he's probably busy, right now we need to try and do something with this case… I'm about an hour away from asking Jane to break in to Grace's computer." Okay, this was getting serious. He had to speak up.  
>"Jane is here you know? And Jane can't believe you haven't worked it out yet. But then you didn't work it out last time either… either way, Jane is getting really stressed." Cho gave Patrick Jane one of those looks.<br>"Jane is also talking in the third person? But I see what you mean. It is pretty obvious." Cho responded, Jane nodded a thank you and looked up to Lisbon who seemed pretty annoyed. She carried on pacing, not responding to either of the two men sat in the bull pen. She walked back up to her office again before reversing and walking back. Her mind was working slowly to try and think what on earth they could be on about. So last time Rigsby had blocked his called to them was like 2 years ago… and last time Grace had gone all secretive on them was like 2 years ago…  
>"No, no way. They can't be…" she suddenly spoke out as things fitted together in her mind. "They wouldn't dare do that again… would they?" she questioned, looking at Jane. He didn't respond straight away, until she glared at him.<br>"Sorry, thought that was rhetorical. Well, Van Pelt shot Rigsby yes? So she's feeling all like, guilty and stuff. Rigsby probably feels guilty for her feeling guilty, and she spent a lot of time up there in the last few days without us. Plus, she's looking after two kids – who doesn't want help?" Lisbon sighed; she hated it when Jane was right… so she hated things a lot really, but right now she really didn't know what to do.

"Megan… sweetheart… I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't help you, I'm sorry this had to happen to you… I'm sorry I didn't forgive you earlier. I've let you down so badly and this is where it's got us. I never thought I'd have to say goodbye to you, especially not like this. Even after everything that happened I still thought about you, and most of it wasn't angry stuff. I missed you you know? You're my sister, my best friend… and now I've lost you I just… I can't…" at this point Grace gave up and let the tears flow. She watched her sister's chest rise and fall by the machines that were soon going to be turned off. Her pale face was so plain; she would never see that smile again. Megan had always been the pretty one as far as Grace could see, and she couldn't see how anyone would abuse that. This was her big sister, the woman who looked after her when they were young, who played with her instead of her other friends because Grace had no one to play with and the woman who had always told her she'd go far. To Grace it seemed the most unfair way for anything to happen, she couldn't see why Megan had to be the one this happened to. Her sister was important, so important, and this wasn't her time. But somehow they'd got here, to a place where they were about to turn off the respirator that was keeping her alive… and it made no sense.

Wayne came over and placed his arm back around Grace. She allowed him to sit down on the chair and she replaced herself on his lap. She kept hold of Megan's hand and just watched her for a while. "What do I do now Wayne? I don't know what to do…"

**Please let me know what you think, how do you reckon it's going to end? ;) **


	15. Chapter 15

**The finale. I really hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it! **

**Sadly, after all this, I still own nothing.**

Hannah and Jo were playing so happily, Grace couldn't face the fact she was about to ruin their lives. She went to open the door but she couldn't do it, the smiles on their faces said so much. They had no cares right now, they were living on the fact she'd promised everything would be alright, and they would never trust her again… She turned around to walk away but Wayne grabbed her arm.  
>"You have to do this Grace. If you don't tell them then the nurse will… who would you rather it came from?" He had a point, he always had a point. She hated it when he had a point.<br>"How do I tell them? They're so young; they've not done anything to deserve this… they're going to have so many questions and…" he placed a finger against her lips gently.  
>"Sweetheart, listen to me. I know you better than you think and I know that you'll come out with the right thing once you're in there. You've managed it this whole time, you've been amazing to them and they trust you… so just go in there, sit them down and talk, it'll be fine." She knew he was right, again. Grace nodded and turned back to go in. "I'll be just out here…" He let her go as she went in to the room.<p>

They ran over to her as soon as she walked in, both looking really happy that she'd come back. She took both their hands and sat them down, kneeling in front of the chair. Grace glanced up to the clock, half 2… she didn't have long before they were going to turn the machines off, but even the thought was too much.  
>"Okay you two… I have something really important to tell you. You know mummy is really sick yeh?" They both nodded, and Jo came out with exactly what she was dreading.<br>"Yeh… but it's going to be okay, you said so." She felt her heart break just a little more.  
>"I… I know what I said sweetheart. But the doctors have tried really hard to make her better but… she's not going to get better." Her worst nightmare was revealed as they both started to cry a little, and turned away from her.<br>"Come on now… everything is still going to be okay. Mummy will always love you; she'll always be watching you and I will always be here for you. We both love you so much, and you'll never forget mummy, we can talk to her lots and she'll be all safe in heaven." She held her arms out for them, hoping they would somehow understand from that. Jo looked round slowly and unsure.  
>"Mummy will be okay? Is heaven happy?" Grace nodded, obviously having no idea but wanting them to be okay with this.<br>"Very happy. She'll miss you lots but she'll get to watch you all the time." Hannah followed her brother and looked round too. They both hugged her. "She's not gone yet though. Shall we go say goodbye?" They nodded as they both cried in to her and she stood up, picking them up and heading to the room with them.

"I love you mummy, lots and lots. Have fun in heaven…" Jo cuddled in to Megan, Hannah following him.  
>"Love mummy too…" she said. Grace struggled to hold in tears, this was worse than she thought it would be. They both lay beside their mum, saying goodbye to her in their own way and being surprisingly strong… she was sure it was meant to be the other way round.<p>

_The doctors came in a few minutes later and nodded to me, I knew it was time and my heart rate rose dramatically. I helped Hannah and Jo off the bed and brought them round to stand with me, we all needed each other at that moment, and we were all losing someone special. The nurse stood beside us, explaining what was happening though I wasn't really listening. Another nurse was crouched down talking to Hannah and Jo, I was grateful really, I couldn't explain this to them. The moment they disconnected the machine seemed to go ever so slowly. The beep that followed was long and rung in my ears even after they switched everything off. I let go of the children for a moment and walked over to the bed, taking Megan's hand one last time.  
>"You'll always be with us…" I told her and kissed her hand gently, replacing it. I meant it too, whatever happened I would never forget someone so amazing.<em>

Grace walked out with both children and met Wayne who had been waiting outside. He gave her a sympathetic look and she sighed, shaking her head.  
>"Not now… please… let's get out of here. I guess I should go explain to Lisbon." Wayne rubbed her shoulder to reassure her he'd be there and they left.<p>

"It's gone 3 Jane, she's hours late! I'm in a complete mix of worry and anger and…"  
>"Lisbon…" Jane tried to stop her but there was no chance of that when she was on a rant.<br>"No, I'm serious, we've got next to nowhere with this case today because she can't be bothered to come in…" Jane glared at her more and nodded towards the bull pen entrance behind her. Lisbon turned around and saw Grace stood there, Wayne holding her hand and both looking quite drained. "Well, where've you been? Dare I ask?" she tried not to focus on them holding hands but it was hard not to. Jane grinned and stood up, throwing Lisbon an 'I told you' look before leaving. Once Jane had left, Rigsby shut the door behind them and guided Grace to the couch, letting her sit down.  
>"Yes, we have been together. No, we're not back together. I've been at the hospital, exactly where I told you I would be." Grace allowed herself to take it one step at a time, trying hard to avoid more tears.<br>"Van Pelt I told you not to be long. You've been over 6 hours and you've ignored all my calls." Lisbon didn't really know what to make of the situation at the moment. Rigsby was less than happy with that reply; he went to stand up from the edge of the sofa but Grace immediately reacted.  
>"Wayne… don't… please. Lisbon, if you keep going on I might not be able to hold back. Stop assuming and listen, for goodness sake. Mrs Jacobs isn't just that, she's Megan, Megan Van Pelt. She's my sister; she's the mother of my niece and nephew… and she died about half an hour ago." That certainly shut Lisbon up; her face came over all apologetic as she thought up a reply.<br>"Van Pelt… Grace… I'm so sorry. I should have found out the facts first… How're you holding up? How're the kids?" Lisbon sat down on the couch beside her to try and do her best to comfort her.  
>"I'm doing my very best… the kids are with Kaylee downstairs, I needed a break… but they're coping okay, I need to be okay for them though." She sighed and put her head in her hands. Lisbon put a hand on her shoulder and looked up to Rigsby who seemed very worried about her.<br>"Alright Grace, you go home. Take a week or so off, however long you need to get through it and spend some time with the children. We'll manage alright…" Grace looked up to her and nodded, for once she wasn't going to argue. After Craig she just wanted to work and work, but now she knew she needed to be there for the children, she had no choice but to take the time off.  
>"Come on, we'll get you all home…" Rigsby replied and stood her up. Grace allowed herself to be lead out.<p>

They reached home after picking up the children. They'd got over it quite quickly, but Grace knew they were too young to really understand what was going on. As she walked up to her front door with Hannah and Jo in tow she knew the next few weeks had to be all about them. She was never going to let them forget Megan, but she was going to be there for them – however hard it would be. Grace let them run in when she opened the door and turned round, facing Rigsby who was behind her. They let her eyes meet his, she'd found all her feelings rushing back to her these last few days, she'd told him she loved him… everything had changed, but this couldn't happen. He took her hand and she sighed, knowing she was about to hurt him all over again. For a moment she kept the silence, allowing Rigsby to lean in, allowing them to kiss just one last time… she felt like such a horrible person.  
>"Wayne…" she whispered, pulling apart just enough but keeping fairly close. "I'm sorry… we can't do this. I know, I know what I've been saying and I meant every word… but I can't cope with it all and I can't let you down anymore." Grace stepped back gently and Rigsby just nodded. Silence fell over them for a moment whilst he took it in.<br>"You need to focus on them, I understand that. I should have guessed it wouldn't go anywhere… but we can go back to where we were? I'm here if you need anything…" he reacted a lot better than Grace had expected.  
>"Of course, you're the best friend I have…" she said, and looked down. Wayne nodded and turned around, turning off towards his home.<br>"I'll see you soon…" he said and headed off. Grace watched him go, something in her breaking even more than it already was. She didn't want to lose him, she would never let herself do that, but she couldn't do the secretive thing all over again. Turning around, she headed back inside and put a smile on her face. Hannah and Jo ran at her and she chuckled, picking them up.  
>"Right kids, it's you and me all the way now… what we having for supper?"<p>

**My 18th birthday tomorrow, and some lovely reviews would really make my day! ;) To celebrate I plan to start a sequel to this story, but I'm not going to tell you anymore! Thank you all so much for reading, love you all! 3**


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